For anyone interested, here is a link to the earnings call: https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/omd73p8r
Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
281–290 of 418 posts
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
> US consumer auto sales per year are in the 16-17 million range. I personally wouldn't consider 3% to be "almost 10%", do you? The parent comment said "cars." You switched that to consumer auto sales. 6.3 million passenger cars were sold in the US in 2017. With passenger car sales declining and generally losing popularity in the US (dropping from 7.9m in 2014), it's plausible that 500,000 will in fact be "almost" 10…
I suppose if US passenger car sales, a segment the Model 3 & S belong to , decline by 1/3 in 2019 that statement could ring true.
Ford killed off their entire car line up except the mustang so there will be a fairly significant drop from that alone.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem wasn't that Musk can't tweet about going private. The problem was that he made a false claim about planning to go private in a direct and bald-faced attempt to manipulate the stock to the detriment of short-sellers. As a CEO in charge of the company, he doesn't get to lie to the public, his shareholders, or putative shareholders, about what he plans to do. He doesn't have to tell them everything--but he a…
Can you explain why he is not allowed to? I don’t understand the justification behind the regulations / laws here
Greatly simplifying here. Essentially because what the CEO of a publicly traded company says can have real world consequences for the man on the street. If Elon tweeted that they were about to sell triple the number of cars analysts predicted, everyone would run to buy Tesla stock thinking its a can't lose. Each of those people buying the stock causes the stock price to go up (generalizing here), so the next person to buy purchases at a higher price. But hey they are trippling expectations, this stock is going to the moon. Hedge funds, pensions and retirement accounts also get into the action.
Now if it turns out that Elon was just pulling a joke and a few days later he tweeted, just kidding guys. The stock would tank. Everyone that had purchased at the higher and higher price would take a massive loss, including all of those retirement accounts. That's why executives of publicly traded companies cant lie because people make financial decisions based on those lies. Some of those buyers control billions in retirement funds (maybe even your 401k). If Tesla happened to be in the process of negotiating a loan or bond at the same time, it's massively fraudulent if they get better rates off the lies that were tweeted out.
In addition, anybody shorting the stock faced a real risk of being liquidated due to the stock sky rocketing due to a lie.
I am a huge fan of Musk, and think he is doing incredible things but he really should not have done that.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tesla currently has 400 supercharger sites in Europe, 2400 bays in total, by 2020 Ionity, which is a consortium of Daimler, BMW, Porsche, Ford, Audi and VW, is planning to build 400 sites, 2400 bays total, most with a 350kW charging capacity, which is double the power of Tesla’s chargers. There are also about 5000 CCS chargers already existing in Europe, lower power but ‘destination chargers’ will probably be valuabl…
I would love to see them do that. I traded up from an electric Focus that uses the standard chargers and they suck balls. The Tesla is amazing in comparison. Ionity can plan to have all these by 2020 but that doesn't mean they will. Meanwhile, Tesla is already planning upgrades to the Supercharger network and is also constantly adding new locations. I think Tesla will be the one that other EVs turn to and they'll pro…
Licensing the standard has likely been the long-term plan. Since Tesla bought SolarCity and built the gigafactory, Tesla must think of itself as an energy company.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. For all the talk about "range anxiety", it is a real concern that only Tesla seems to be actively working towards eliminating. I've needed to drive across the country every year for the past 4 years, and allocating extra days to stop and charge was never an option. That's one aspect where my cheap Honda beats most electric vehicles. For EV to go truly mainstream, that should not be the case.
Best is the enemy of good, and perfect is the mortal enemy of best. Just because a vehicle isn't 100% perfect for 100% of people doesn't mean it isn't the best vehicle for most people.
True, true. But in the end, a car is a car is a car. It gets me places. I'd say the ability to get to places is pretty critical for a car. It's what distinguishes it from something that's not a car, for example, a boat anchor.
A long road-trip is not an edge case. It's the most affordable - and one of the most popular - ways to have a vacation[1]. National parks alone get over 300 million visits, but they're by far not the only destination. Overall, road trips account for an astonishing 39 percent of vacations[2].
As both articles note, the reasons to choose a road trip over flying include economical considerations; most people travel in their own cars.
Does it mean that EV aren't good? No. But to prevail, EV need to be better than ICE cars at the same price point. And as of today, they are really not the best vehicle for most people, by far.
Without the supercharger network, EV are not practical for most. See this thread[3] for examples of when Tesla owners use ICE cars.
All that is to say that how good an EV is for most people is determined a lot by the available infrastructure. So good on Tesla for being way ahead of the competition here.
[1]https://skift.com/2018/05/22/how-driving-defines-us-the-futu...
[2]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/travel/road-trips-in-the-...
[3]https://www.quora.com/Do-Tesla-Model-S-owners-and-primary-dr...
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it's one of the most heavily shorted stocks on the index. Basically Tesla has always been the underdog and tons of people are itching to see them fail. So watching them succeed against the odds and the naysayers getting burned is quite satisfying - just speaking from a human story perspective.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I think Tesla is fine. But I think Musk is a bit of a wanker and I have an allergic reaction to the hero-worship that's grown around him.
Its similar to if Edison, Bell or Einstein had a twitter account. You are watching the world change due to the drive of a single person. I find it fascinating. End of the day, the guy is human with all the flaws that come with that, but he is also operating on a level matched by only a few today. I don't have to want to be friends with the guy to be amazed at what he is doing and to admire the effort he is putting forth.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#287Earlier quoted context omitted.
Other carmakers don't need to build their own charging network. It's already being handled for them by thousands of businesses installing standards-compatible chargers. There are 3 new chargers on my block that were installed within the last month. Another 6 scheduled to be installed in my building's garage in the next month. That's in addition to the dozens that are already located in my part of LA. In Santa Monica,…
The problem is that all of these community chargers inevitably break down and there is zero incentive for them to be repaired. It seems like local businesses might get a tax break to install a charging station, but without any incentive to maintain them they get broken in a few months and never work again.
Why don’t they charge for them?
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#288One massive advantage that I'm not sure most people realize quite yet is the Supercharger network. No manufacturer (other than Porsche talking about it recently) has actually built out chargers for their cars. Every other electric car has to rely on a broken, sparse, expensive charger network. Blink chargers and some ChargePoint chargers are expensive in many places ($2 an hour!), and Blink is notorious for having br…
Surely Pilot/Loves/FlyingJ et al will begin installing chargers in the near future. They would love a bunch of captives milling around their travel centers. That’s 1000+ locations, and they could install several thousand charging stalls in a matter of months. Since the super charger network currently exists, it is a competitive advantage for sure, but it also could become a liability having to honor free supercharging for some cars and then not really providing value over a travel center.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would love to see them do that. I traded up from an electric Focus that uses the standard chargers and they suck balls. The Tesla is amazing in comparison. Ionity can plan to have all these by 2020 but that doesn't mean they will. Meanwhile, Tesla is already planning upgrades to the Supercharger network and is also constantly adding new locations. I think Tesla will be the one that other EVs turn to and they'll pro…
Licensing the standard has likely been the long-term plan. Since Tesla bought SolarCity and built the gigafactory, Tesla must think of itself as an energy company.
I hope so. Someone needs to invent some goddamn self-contained solar covered parking spaces. I live in the Southwest and I can't believe that we're in 2018 and no one is tapping into solar power for everything during the day.
Re: Tesla Third Quarter 2018 Update [pdf]
#290One massive advantage that I'm not sure most people realize quite yet is the Supercharger network. No manufacturer (other than Porsche talking about it recently) has actually built out chargers for their cars. Every other electric car has to rely on a broken, sparse, expensive charger network. Blink chargers and some ChargePoint chargers are expensive in many places ($2 an hour!), and Blink is notorious for having br…
I'm pretty sure every Nissan dealer that sells a leaf must operate a charging station. Granted they're not as easy to access at the supercharger network... but it exists.
I tried to use one of the Nissan dealer chargers a few weeks ago on a trip. The dealership was closed so they blocked access to the lot with the charger. This is pretty typical.